Piltdown. Even today the name sends a shiver down the collective spine of the scientific community, for this was the most dramatic and daring fraud ever perpetrated upon the world of science and academia. Between 1908 and 1912, a series of amazing discoveries relating to what appeared to be the earliest human were made close to the little village of Piltdown in Sussex. These remains belonged to the developmental 'missing link' between man and ape. The basic principles of evolution, first propounded by Charles Darwin some fifty years before, now appeared as indisputable fact. Forty-one years after he first became famous, the 'Earliest Englishman' was again hot news. it was late November 1953, and the world was about to discover that Piltdown Man had been a hoax.
Miles Russell is a senior lecturer in prehistoric and Roman archaeology at Bournemouth University in the UK. He has worked as a field officer and project manager for the UCL Field Archaeology Unit, the Oxford Archaeological Unit and Bournemouth Archaeology on sites across Britain, Germany, Sicily and Russia, and is a regular contributor to television and radio, as well as being the author of ten books, including Piltdown Man, Prehistoric Sussex, Roman Sussex, Digging Holes in Popular Culture: Archaeology and Science Fiction, Bloodline: the Celtic Kings of Roman Britain, and UnRoman Britain: Exposing the Great Myth of Britannia.
Miles Russell presents here a fun and interesting account of Charles Dawson, the man behind one of the greatest archaeological frauds in history. He shows us a devious, intelligent man who conducted a host of deceptions leading to fame, property and, had he lived longer, possibly even a knighthood.
The book starts with a brief look at the background of the man himself, his origins, family and motives and what may have led him down the path of deception instead of honest hard research.
The rest of the book is entitled The Hoax, and is subdivided into four parts, which tell us of the litany of frauds he committed. The first part, A Splendid Fellow, talks about his archaeological 'discoveries'. This list of no less than thirteen frauds taken in chronological order, gives us an understanding of how his desire for success led him to fabricate more and more evidence on a whole host of sites and objects to gain recognition and position. It is a fascinating section showing how his frauds developed in sophistication and scale over time, until he finally reached his great masterpiece, the Piltdown man. It's amazing how little suspicion there was at the time, and even for a long time after, with only modern technology, like dating systems and greater knowledge of past periods, showing us they are not genuine.
The next part, A Man of Articles, looks at his published papers and book. He actually published several papers on all manner of fields from history and languages to physics and aerodynamics. Many of these were unsurprisingly heavily plagiarised, especially his book on Hastings castle, and is interesting to see how he did it and got away with it.
The third part, A Curious Mind, concerns his wider biological and paleontological works, from insects to fossils, and even a sighting of a sea monster.
The final part, The Big Discovery, is the longest section of the book and looks at the 'find' of the Piltdown Man. It provides all the details of the find and excavation itself, but also shows how complex it was, and how devious was the man behind it. How he planned it, added to it and used other excavators and archaeologists to draw the attention from himself. It even shows how he dealt with suspicion and his many enemies accrued over the years, especially the Sussex archaeological society, whose property, Castle Lodge, he had purloined through duplicitous, and highly illegal means several years previously.
This book is extremely well researched and provides an interesting analysis of the man and his works, showing us a very intelligent, hard working and motivated man, who at the same time was devious, manipulative, self centred and unscrupulous, getting everything he wanted, whatever the cost to others around him. This book provides the information to explain what he did, how and why in a reasonably fun and light way. My main complaint, however, is that the author missed the mark somewhat at judging the level of the book, with it neither being very academic and scientific nor fun and easy to read, dragging quite a lot in the middle, and, despite having a wealth of fascinating content, being a bit of a chore to finish.
Book: 'The Piltdown Man Hoax: Case Closed'
Author: Miles Russell
Review by: Joe Medhurst
Joe Medhurst is a teacher and historian, he writes articles on history and education for several magazines and websites. His website is: joemedhurst.com